Improvement in revenue-stamps for cigars



W. D. 0OONNOR.- Revenue Stamp for Oigars.

No. 212,259. Patented Feb. 11,1879

MPEIERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPMER. WASH NG1ON D O UNITED STATES) PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM D. OGONNOR, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVENUE-STAMPS FOR CIGARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 212,259, dated February 11, 1879; application filed December 23, 1878.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. OOoNNoR, of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Revenue-Stamps for Cigars and Gigarettes, of which the following is a specification:

In order to better provide safeguards against fraud in the matter of collecting revenue from cigars, many attempts havebeen made to stamp individual cigars in lieu of, or in addition to, stamping the cigar-box itself. Difficulty, how ever, has been experienced in this regard, both because of objections to the manner of applying the stamp, and also because of objections to the material of which the stamp is made. It is a desideratum to have the stamp consumed when the cigar is lighted but the fumes of the burning paper are objectionable both to the taste and smell.

It has been suggested to impregnate the stamp with someinflammable substance, with a view to making it burn more readily; but this plan is open to decided objection. The paper remains just as offensive as before, and superadded to that are the odors of the inflammable substance with which the paper is impregnated.

In Letters Patent No. 205,127, dated June 18, 187 S,Ihave described and claimed a method of applying revenue-stamps to cigars, which I believe to be open to none of the objections that obtain against the use of other methods suggested before it.

My present invention is directed, not to the method of application, but to the stamp itself, and has for its end the production of a stamp which can be burned when the cigar is lighted or smoked, without being offensive either to the taste or smell. To this end I make my stamp, which I term a pyroxyline stamp, of pyroxylized materialsueh, for instance, as pyroxilized paperthat is to say, paper which is treated in baths of nitric and sulphuric acids, or in a bath of a mixture of those acids, and subsequently washed in water, so as to be freed from said acids, and then dried. Paper thus treated, while it has been chemically transformed, is nevertheless of the same appearance and texture as before, and can be used as ordinary paper is used. It is impregnated with no foreign inflammable substances; it is innoxious; it consumes instantly without ash or cinder, and without any resulting taste or smell perceptible to the smoker. So quickly does it disappear when lighted that it can be applied to any portion of the cigar, whether the end or sides, without burning or injuring the cigar-wrapper, which is not practicable with a stamp made of ordinary paper saturated or impregnated with inflammable substances.

Stamps thus prepared can be used with entire safety. The paper, when pyroxylized, is dried at about 200 Fahrenheit, and requires to be subjected to a much higher degree of heat before it will inflame.

The stamps can be of any suitable form or size, this being governed in a measure by the position they are to occupy on the cigar. I prefer to place the stamp upon or near the cut end of the cigar.

The stamp can be put on the cigar in any convenient or preferred Way. A suitable mucilage may be employed for the purpose of attachingit. I preferacombustiblemucilagesuch, for instance, as collodion; or I may employ a paste composed of ingredients which, when ignited, will burn slowly but surely such a paste, for instance, as has been applied to the ends of cigars to render them self-light- 111g.

In the accompanying drawings is represented a cigar having my improved stamp A on its end, as in Figure 1, or around it, as in Fig. 2. It will be understood, however, that the invention consists in the stamp itself rather than in the particular position which it occupies on the cigar.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isp 1. A pyroxyline revenue-stamp for cigars, substantially as set forth.

2. A cigar provided with a pyroxyline revenue-stamp, secured thereto by combustible mueilage or paste, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I hereunto affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

W. D. OOONNOR.

Witnesses:

M. GEORGII, HENRY R. ELLIOTT. 

